#1 THE GREAT LESSON? WAITING/ PATIENECE
This is part #1
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr, Kyfingers@aol.com
1. Waiting and Patience -- the dirty words? ; 2. Habakkuk’s Waiting Room; 3. Danger of waiting and spiritual rust; 4. The five levels of waiting; 5. Waiting with Joy and gladness 6. Long waits and sudden answers; 7. TEPID WAITING; 8. Waiting with a fire in my bones!
1. PAUL HAD MANY GOOD INSTINCTS, BUT SOME LESSONS WERE LEARNED...
Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want; for I have learned,in whatsoever state I am, there with to be content!
2. PAUL LEARNED BY THORNS?
Paul had some kind of thorn in the flesh? We do
not know what Paul’s thorn was? We don’t need to
know.
The lesson is not the cause and identity of thorns,
but what to do when thorns seem to infest and hurt.
He prayed for it to be removed... at least three
serious earnest seasons of prayer for removal....
2 Corththians 12:8 For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9. And Jesus said unto me: MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT
FOR THEE; FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT
IN WEAKNESS. Most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me.
PAUL LEARNED TO MAKE THE BEST OUT OF BAD SITUATIONS.
Sometimes the worse thing that can ever
happen to us, could be the best thing that ever
happened!
3. THERE ARE SOME POWERFUL LESSONS TO LEARN, AND WAITING AND PATIENCE IS ONE OF THOSE
GREAT LESSONS!
Isaiah 40: 31 They THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD...
4. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INSTINCT AND LEARN?
A. INSTINCT:
NATURAL OR INHERENT APTITUDE, IMPULSE, OR CAPACITY.
A largely inheritable trait. Natural talent.
No one ever took a baby to class to learn how to
breathe, suck, to have a bowel movement, this is
just natural behavior.
No one ever sent a BEE to flying school? He just
flies.
No one ever taught the bee how to make honey? It is
a natural instinct and if a bee has the opportunity,
it will make honey.
B. LEARN:
To gain knowledge, skill, or understanding by STUDY,
INSTRUCTION, OR EXPERIENCE. ---
memorize --- to come to realize or to know.
Years ago we had a friend that was a super skilled
musician. They had purchased an ACCORDION, at a yard
sale.
The man learned how to play the accordion very
skillfully. He had never seen an accordion played.
He learned to play the instrument upside down,
backwards. He never knew any better for several
years.
By the time he learned his mistake, he was so
skilled at playing the accordion upside down, he
just continued to play
the instrument upside-down and backwards.
A good teacher would have started the student with a
lesson on the correct pattern.
5. IT CAN BE VERY HARD TO UNLEARN SOMETHING!
I taught school in Virginia, the sixth and seventh
grades.
I had a very sweet girl named April Witt. In English
we had worked all year on the words: learn and
taught.
I taught them --- no one could learn for another, if
someone instructed you --- they taught you.
I had covered this many times in the school year.
The last day of school, I had the students write me
a personal note about the year. They could write
anything they wanted to.
April’s paper started like this: MR. HUGHES, YOU
SURE LEARNED ME A LOT THIS YEAR!
Seems the years of incorrect English took domain
over my lessons?
TEACH -- TEST -- EVALUATE -- RETEACH!
A good teacher knows, sometimes one lesson is not
enough. Any good mother knows, to make sure the
child learns, you must use repetition. Repeat,
repeat, and then repeat again.
The Bible knows the power of repetition! Many of the
great lessons and themes of the Bible are repeated
many times. God wants us to learn and apply our
hearts to wisdom.
Luke 21:19 IN YOUR PATIENCE POSSESS YE YOUR SOUL.
6.PATIENCEAND WAITING ARE BAD WORDS IN THE CHURCH TODAY. PATIENCE IS ASSOCIATED WITH
TRIBULATION, AND WE TEACH TROUBLE IS BAD?
GOD DOES NOT LOOK AT PATIENCE AND TRIBULATION LIKE
WE DO! The Bible teaches a different angle
than we want to accept on waiting and patience.
James 1:3. Knowing this that the trying of your
faith worketh patience.
4. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye
may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing!
We desire microwavable patience and tribulation. We
want instant coffee, instant oats, instanT rice, and
instant experience with the HOLY! We demand
immediate results, NOW!
WE HAVE RAISED OUR FAMILIES ON FAST FOOD AND JUNK
FOOD.
We have rapid fire machine gun tongues and we want
rapid answers NOW.
LORD GIVE ME PATIENCE RIGHT NOW!
7. WAIT:
Are we waiting on? Or are we waiting for?
--- to stay in a place of expectation. --- to
serve. --- to be ready and available. --- to look
forward expectantly.
TIME is one of the wisest counselors of all, WAIT.
LET US BE DOING --- WHAT WE CAN --- WHERE WE CAN
--- WHEN WE CAN!
Do all with compassion and understanding. Go after
your goal. Achieve where you can. Pursue where you
can.
Learn how to work and apply yourself. Then you
must learn to WAIT! We must learn to accept what we
cannot change. We must learn the beauty of waiting
and patience.
God’s instant men took many years to develop!
8. GOD IS VERY GOOD TO US! GOD WILL INVEST A LOT IN YOU TODAY! EACH DAY IS A SPECIAL GIFT!
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE HIM BACK?
The average person in the average 24 hours takes so
much for granted. (SOURCE UNKNOWN)
1. The average heart beats 103,689 times a day.
2. Your blood travels 168,000,000 miles through your
arteries and veins.
3. You will breathe 23,040 times.
4. You will inhale 438 cubic feet of air today.
5. In the USA the average person will eat 3 pounds
and 4 ounces of food.
6. We will drink 2.9 quarts of liquid.
7. Today the average person will move 750 muscles.
8. Your fingernails will grow .000046 of an inch.
Your toe nails will grow slower.
9. The average hair will grow .01714 of an inch
today.
10. The average person will exercise 7,000,000 brain
cells.
11. The average man will speak 25,000 words today;
the average woman will speak 30,000 words today.
THIS IS ALL GOD’S GIFT TO YOU TODAY! GOD GIVES THIS TO YOU, 7 DAYS A WEEK, 365 DAYS A YEAR!
9. THERE IS A TRUE STATEMENT TO CONSIDER: WHAT YOU LOVE --- YOU WILL FIND TIME FOR ---!
GOD GIVES YOU:
--- 1. TIME
--- 2. TALENT
--- 3. ENERGY
SHOW ME HOW AND WHAT YOU SPEND YOUR TIME TALENT AND ENERGY, AND I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT
YOU VALUE AND WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. OFTEN WHAT WE SAY WE LOVE,
AND WHAT WE INVEST AND SPEND OUR EFFORTS DOING WILL NOT ALIGN WITH THE REALITY OF OUR
ACTIONS.
10. LOOK AT WHAT CHRISTOPHER REEVE SAID:
Christopher Reeve was the actor that played
SUPERMAN! He was seriously injured and paralyzed in
an accident falling off a horse. Reeve quoted: EVEN
IF YOUR BODY DOESN’T WORK THE WAY IT USED TO, THE
HEART AND THE MIND AND THE SPIRIT ARE NOT
DIMINISHED. IT IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT.
11. THERE ARE MANY GREAT, POWERFUL LESSONS IN WAITING AND DEVELOPING PATIENCE! STAY
READY WHILE YOU WAIT!
Matthew 25, the 10 Virgins, records a story of one
of the great dangers of waiting. Note that all 10
were virgins.
Note all were waiting. BUT 5 WERE WAITING AND WERE
PREPARED as they waited.
BUT THE WISE TOOK OIL IN THEIR VESSELS WITH THEIR
LAMPS ... Matthew 25:4
We must learn that idleness and laziness while
waiting is not acceptable. All ten were waiting for
the Bridegroom.
5 seemed to grow careless as they waited. Apathy and
indifference seemed to allow the 5 foolish to take
it easy.
Abuse is not the problem of waiting, NEGLIGENT --
SLOVEN ATTITUDES SEEMED TO GROW while one waits?
The lack of paying insufficient attention to the
task before us can be deadly!
Careless deeds? Careless words? Careless thought
patterns?
How many individuals, families, and churches are
suffering because we have lost our vision while we
were waiting?
Where is the plan? The purpose?
How many families have little sense of direction? You are leading? Where are we leading?
EVEN DEAD FISH CAN SWIM DOWN STREAM!
ARE YOU LOOSING YOUR ZEAL AND ENTHUSIASM WHILE YOU
WAIT? Where is that FIRST LOVE?
Rev. 2:4 I have somewhat against thee, because thou
hast left thy first love.
In a furnace it is easier to build a new fire than
to keep an old fire burning!
It is easier to divorce than to seriously work on
and correct the problems that time has grown.
It is easier to run away from home than to obey the
parents rules.
It is easier to drop out of school than to graduate.
It is easier to leave the church and find a new one
where you don’t know the people and their problems.
12. HOW ARE WE KILLING TIME AND NOT WAITING WISELY?
1. WE HAVE NO PURPOSE, PLAN, OR OBJECTIVE.
2. We are always shifting our priorities, and
blaming other people.
3. We never finish anything, we set no dead lines,
and love to start new things more than finish old.
4. We are always in a firefighting mode, crisis
management, we will do nothing unless we have to.
5. We love to day dream and be unfaithful. I know
people that want to correct everyone but themselves.
6. We have too many irons in the fire, we try to do
too many things at one time, and end up doing
nothing.
7. We set unrealistic goals for the short term and
the long term.
8. We have personal disorganization and a lacking
of self discipline, no accountability plan.
9. We have confused plans, not sure?
10. Duplication.
11. I have to do it all myself, I will not delegate.
12. I have fallen and I can’t get up! In a rut/
routine.
13. We lack motivation.
14. No cooperation, unity, or coordination.
15. Conflict seen as enemy. No creative use of
conflict.
16. We fear change, or we can’t cope with change.
17. We are addicted to the telephone, the
television, or games.
18. We have no system of evaluation or no honest
progress reports.
19. We have insufficient or incorrect information.
20. Can’t say NO!
21. We overlook poor performance for fear that we
will anger others.
22. We refuse to listen to constructive criticism.
23. Haste or snap decisions without thinking through
the possibilities.
24. We never act on anything, we are always reacting
to situations.
25. We face bossy, controlling spirits that will not
yield.
13. TWO OF OUR GREATEST SINS ARE A LACKING OF PATIENCE AND WAITING!
A. TO THINK WE HAVE PLENTY OF TIME... Psalms 90:12
B. WAITING FOR A MORE CONVENIENT TIME, Looking for
perfection... Acts 24:25.
While we are waiting we must --- mentor, reach, teach, unteach, win, cooperate, mature, train, and grow
a deep commitment to the WAITING OF THE CROSS. Our goal must be to produce disciples that produce
disciples that know how to wait in deep patience and the power of agreement.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com This is part #1
HELP ME AND PASS THIS ON TO OTHERS?
